Omoide Sokoneru
by fruttitutti
Summary: Ino's Shintenshin no Jutsu comes at a high cost when it allows you to transfer your spirit. Suddenly, Ino begins to see her assassination victim's thoughts and they soon crush her memories. She altogether forgets Konoha and those she loves. ShikaIno
1. ForgetMeNot

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, its storyline, or characters. However, this fanfiction is based on Naruto, and is my creation.**

Omoide Sokoneru : Lost Memories

Chapter 1: ForgetMeNot

-

At the prodigious age of seventeen, Yamanaka Ino was accepted into the ANBU. The legacy of family-inherited techniques that were her prime weapons were perfect—easy assassinations.

Unbeknownst to all, her techniques were crushing down her mind and memories. Going into her victim's minds to kill and suddenly pulling out took its toll when the process was repeated millions of times—but we'll get to that later. It first happened when…

-

_-Two years ago-_

_-_

Tsunade smiled benevolently at her latest ANBU recruit, Yamanaka Ino.

"Your first mission as an ANBU member had been very satisfactory. Keep up the work, Ino, and we'll make a fine assassin of you yet. For now, retain a low profile and get used to your work. Konoha relies on you for protection and village infiltration. Now…"-shuffling papers- "I have a new assignment, your second one as an ANBU. It's very important—read the report and be ready by next morning. Carry out your mission well. You are dismissed."

Ino took the report papers offered to her and bowed low, smiling. "Arigatou (thank you) Tsunade-sama! I'll do well, I promise!"

The young blonde hurried out of Konoha's headquarters to meet her friend Sakura at Ichiraku's Ramen, a bounce in her step and a beaming grin on her face. She was instantly greeted by the cool mid-morning sun and by her waiting friends at the welcoming booth.

"What now, Ino-pig?" Sakura laughed, patting the stool beside her. "New mission?—or is it that Shikamaru invited you to a dinner? I swear—you're overly exuberant about being an ANBU and being affianced to your teammate. I could tell by the extra shiny-ness of your silly hair and that gleam in your eyes."

Although at the still young age seventeen—Ino had been proposed to by Shikamaru two days before at the night of her ANBU initiation party—and accepted. Life as a shinobi was harsh and death was always around the corner. It was better to live and die knowing you are loved then to die alone. So Ino accepted with a rib-crushing hug and a simple silver band embedded with a shimmering pale blue stone the color of her eyes, the match to Shikamaru's ring. Ever since that night, Ino was literally shining with happiness and the initiation to the ANBU along with her first and now second mission just added on.

Ino giggled, glancing at the ring on her left hand's fourth finger for the millionth time, and then to the mission papers gripped tightly in her other hand.

"Both, forehead-girl," the still-grinning blonde replied. She nodded to the patiently-waiting Ayame at the service counter and asked for a tofu ramen. In the middle of their shared meal, Ino and Sakura glanced at the assignment details. It was allowed to share inner ANBU information with fellow ANBU members. Sakura was an ANBU also—she applied for the hunter-nin category (!) while Ino took on the assassin category. (!!)

"Ogamu Koutsugouna," read Sakura aloud. "Your victim, Ino. Apparently he's an underground poisoner-type person. He poses a threat to Konoha by influencing the Hidden Village of Stone (who at this current time is on unstable relationships with Konoha) by providing them with weapons, sake, and pretty words," she spat.

Sakura disinterestedly skipped the personal info on the target's family and roles and continued on towards the bottom of the report: where the report's known weaknesses were listed.

"Here," she said, pointing. "Vulnerable to sake—can't handle it very well it says. Has arachnaphobia too…ha! A weapons dealer is scared of spiders and he's trying to fuel a war between the Stone Village and Konoha for his own benefits. Quite amusing…"

Ino agreed, but a queasy feeling drifted through her mind and curled down into her stomach. It was only her second mission, but she was still a beginner to true ANBU standards. What if she was a disappointment? Or what if she died in battle, and never saw Shikamaru's face again? There were way to many "what ifs" and "maybes" and "perhaps"-es.

The day sunk into the warm cloak of night and the girls parted their ways with cheery smiles and a good luck to Ino's mission.

"Be careful with the Shintenshin no Jutsu, Ino! I've heard some nasty rumors of side effects…and look what happened to your grandmother, she was a legendary Switch User and suddenly she disappeared without a trace." Sakura warned. But Ino laughed it off, telling the 'forehead-girl' that she was a silly worrywart.

-_Next day, night-_

Ino crept silently through the shadowed halls, wincing when the wooden floorboards creaked. Her ANBU comrades were waiting outside, and her mission was already lagged behind enough. The kunoichi noiselessly unsheathed the katana from her back and slid open a rice paper door.

On the floor slept Ogamu Koutsugouna, lying on the traditional Japanese style bedding of blankets on the ground.

_Good, he's asleep, _thought Ino.

If her victim was rendered unconscious, it was easier to use her Shintenshin no Jutsu. Of course, if the Switch Victim died or felt pain, the pain or death would also affect the Switch User, which in this case was Ino. That wasn't what she planned though...

Katana gripped in hand, Ino stepped towards the sleeping first-rate, deceiving charlatan on the ground, and with her other hand, performed the seals of the Shintenshin no Jutsu.

Over the years, she had improvised and perfected her jutsu to be convenient in the area of seal making and speed of transfer.

Within seconds, she was within the consciousness of Koutsugouna and she saw her own body slump to the ground.

Ino willed Koutsugouna's body to rise from the ground and take the katana from her own body. As the victim's fingers contacted the cool wood of the weapon, within his consciousness, Ino received a painful, unfamiliar jolt she had never felt whenever she performed her technique.

In an incessant stream, she obtained a flow of Koutsugouna's memories and personal thoughts. Within the flashes, Ino saw his wife, three children beaming happily, the memory of a young boy, offering a little card that said, "Happy Father's Day," with the D backwards, a brown-haired woman smiling gently at him, and a younger version of himself.

_Weird, this never happened before, _Ino frowned concernedly. Was this sudden perceptiveness through her jutsu a good or bad asset?

Finally, after looking more into Ogamu's memories, she became disinterested. _Time to get this over with! _

Ino willed Koutsugouna to lift his hand, the one holding the katana, and stab it into his own body. As the arm propelled toward his body, Ino quickly activated the release seal and moved her spirit back into her own self.

Ino, back into her rightful body, watched with a grim demeanor as Koutsugouna awoke and found his arm uncontrollably plunging the katana into his own stomach. When he fully regained consciousness from the pain, he looked up and saw the kunoichi watching him. "My children…" he whispered brokenly to her. Ino looked away and remembered the three chestnut haired kids beaming in his memories, guilt burning within.

She stepped forward, pulled out the katana, then shoved it back in. He wordlessly slumped to the floor, dead. The mission was done…but why did she feel so sad?

The next day, the ANBU were safely back in Konoha. Ino reported to Tsunade of their success. She didn't mention the unfamiliar and unwelcome stream of thoughts she received. A week later, Ino's team was given another mission. Time slowly went by and many things happened. Ino happily married Shikamaru, Hinata died in the invasion of Sound, Orochimaru was killed, Sasuke returned, the Akatsuki were eliminated, Tsunade finally returned Jiraiya's love, Kiba died in a mission, and Sakura got married to Sasuke. And throughout the years of ups and downs, Ino attended to her ANBU duties and missions and kept receiving flashes of her victim's lives.

Third Mission—Takeda Murosaki.

In another flash, Ino saw that he had a fiancée, and had been planning to marry her the next day. She saw that his father passed away and his mother was in a coma, and that his livings made as a thief and seller of explosive scrolls were all going to her health funds. Yet, duty called and Ino assassinated him with the same method used in her other mission.

Fourth Mission—Waruii Inoue. Cared for stray animals and was a lover of nature. Offended Konoha's elite by attempting to assault a government official because he kicked a dog out of his path. She set out to kill all those who committed animal cruelty. Duty called—Inoue was killed.

Fifth Mission, Sixth Mission, Seventh—Eliminating some Akatsuki members. Deidara fought for power and vengeance for his sister—that touched Ino's heart deeply. Tobi was a scarred orphan whose mother attempted to kill him. Zetsu was driven out of his village for his monstrosity. Duty called—Ino and a team of the other ANBU seventeen were dispatched and took out the three.

By this time, Ino thought of these sudden flashes due to the fact that her Shintenshin technique was growing in power and the visions were natural, a sign of progress.

More and more missions were passed successfully, very few with damaging incidents. But soon, inside, a storm of growing guilt was brewing inside Ino. In her victims, she had seen so many personal lives and to kill them after seeing them was painful. Take Takeda Murosaki—he was to be happily wedded the day afterwards and now his bride was probably crying, widowed before marriage and his mother probably dead from lack of medical care.

Ino became depressed with the weight of guilt looming over her life. Not even her husband Shikamaru could find out what was wrong though; she closed up her feelings like a clam.

However, not only guilt was shutting up Ino's life, it was her mind itself. Unknown to all, the use of the Shintenshin no Jutsu came at high costs. Ino had used it ever since she learned it at six years old and she was now seventeen, meaning that she used it for eleven years.

Eventually, the constant use of a technique that should have been used as a last resort would overbear the user's mind, soon opening the power to view the victim's true consciousness and thoughts. This insight for many minds is nonetheless too much for one single mind, so it crowds over and destroys things once remembered.

Ino started forgetting things. At first, they were small things, like where she last put her house key or how to activate a particularly difficult jutsu. Those things she could find again or ask for.

But soon after her seventy-eighth mission with the same method of assassination using her famous technique, she started forgetting larger things, like Sakura's birthday party or when a mission had to be completed.

-

Soon after her ninety-fourth mission, she forgot who she was.

-

Ino had just finished off a grim solo mission—she had assassinated a serial killer and was dejectedly remembering the flashes she had received while doing it—one particular flash showed the reasons why the target killed, and it was terrifying and sad. Ino was returning to Konoha in the middle of the night to report to Tsunade of the success when suddenly all the memories she viewed in her ninety-four successful missions slammed into her mind and they seemed to flash by in front of her eyes.

After the astonishing reel of visions, Ino's mind suddenly went blank. The kunoichi slowed her tree-jumping and teetered to a stop, sitting down. She gazed into the distance with glazed, blue eyes, wind blowing through her re-grown and loose hair.

"Who am I?"

The words emitted from her mouth were swept into the winds and to Konoha. Abruptly, Shikamaru sat up in bed in his home shared with Ino. He had a nightmare…and he felt that somewhere, Ino was in trouble.

-

_To be continued…_

(!) Hunter-nin are ANBU too, they are separated into groups to do missions or they do solo. They hunt down missing-nin or large organizations that are threats to Konoha.

(!!) Assassins, in this case, are ANBU, also separated into groups for missions or solo. They hunt down specific people, such as weapon-dealers of Konoha enemies or yakuza members that are threats to Konoha.


	2. Absinthe and Wormwood

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, its storyline, or characters. However, this fanfiction is based on Naruto, and is my creation.**

**(**_**Italics without a "she/he thought" after them- Ino's perspective)**_

**-**

Omoide Sokoneru : Lost Memories

Chapter 2 – AbsinthWormwood – Separation

-

Shikamaru banged his fist on the Godaime's table, eyes blazing.

"Send out another search party!"

"No."

"It's been three weeks. THREE WEEKS, DO YOU HEAR ME, WOMAN?!"

"Lower your voice; do you know who you are talking to? And no, I won't."

"I don't care. She could be dead. She could be bleeding. She's been missing for three weeks and two search parties have been sent. No trace. Send out another, she could still be out there, _dying_!!!"

The Godaime sighed. "I know, Shikamaru. I myself have thought of this. Do you think I can help her? Do you even think, if she's dead, that I can revive her? She's only one ninja, Shikamaru. Look, I know she's your wife and you love her, but see; I've got a whole country to think about and you want me to look for one ninja. Things haven't been going well. I'm not saying it's her fault, but since Ogamu Koutsugouna's assassination by her hands, Iwagakure (Hidden Village of Stone) is now being stirred up for battle. They don't like their main source of supplies suddenly cut off, and now their pointing fingers at us. Understandably, since we ARE the people who killed him. I'd be better after all if Ino was out of the picture for awhile, for her own protection."

Those words hit a nerve. Shikamaru sighed and nodded, exiting the office without another word.

Outside, he murmured, "Where are you, troublesome Nara Ino…?"

He even admitted to himself that he missed her noisiness.

-

_Cold. That's all I feel. I see pitch black and when I try to think of what just happened, I draw a blank. I'm just sitting on a tree branch in the middle of nowhere, that's all. Why or how I landed here, I don't know. I'm dressed in clothes I don't remember wearing and I keep thinking of weird things that pass through my head, but I know…none of those memories are mine. And I wonder…who am I?_

_-_

Sakura sat among a field of flowers, sighing deeply. This was the place where she and Ino had played in when they were younger. It was also the field where Ino had taught her the art of ikebana in their kunoichi grade classes. She held up a delicate purple flower to her eyes and remembered that it was Ino's favorite flower.

_I should be out there, looking for her. _Sakura thought with regret. _Tsunade-shishou was a step ahead of me. _

The day Tsunade announced to Konoha that one of their prized ninjas were missing, she also declared that any who set off to find her without permission would be labeled a missing-nin. When Sakura had stormed into Tsunade's office and asked why, the Godaime replied that a war with Stone was starting and every ninja possible was needed at home. _**How could she be so insensitive?! **_Inner Sakura raged on.

As the sun began to lower in its cycling travel through the sky, Sakura stood up from the field and headed to Tsunade's office to reason with her again and plead for the permission to look for Ino. But when she was about to knock on her teacher's door, Shikamaru burst out with a smoldering look on his face, murmuring a few unintelligible words.

Sakura swept from the door and followed the trudging Konoha's Tactician and Strategists Head. "Wait! What happened?"

Shikamaru turned with a world-weary look on his face. "She wouldn't send out another search party. And she wouldn't even let _me _go." He muttered angrily, more to himself than to Sakura.

At that moment, behind the two ANBU nin, the Godaime burst from her office, eyes wild.

From her mouth streamed the anger and shock-lined words that startled the two out of their reverie.

"Ino was sighted in Iwagakure, wearing a _Stone hitai-ate._"

-

_It's been three weeks since the day I lost my memories. That much, I know of. That night of sitting on a tree branch shivering and hoping for a fragment of memory, a man appeared and talked to me. _

_He had dark eyes and chestnut hair pulled back into a spiky pony-tail, kind of shaped like a pineapple. For some reason, just by looking at him, he seemed familiar, like I could trust him. He looked so much like someone I knew…dang, I lost it. Well for a minute…nevermind. I just _trusted _him. _

_He wore a strange metal plate around his neck with an engraving of three rocks. I noticed that the plate he wore was similar to the one around my waist, although I don't remember what it stands for. Mine's different, it had a swirl in its center and protruding lines like a beak and a path. Looks like a leaf, in fact. _

_Well anyways, he took a look at the plate on my waist and actually hissed in anger. What he did next nearly frightened me out of my skin. He took out a diamond-shaped knife out of a pouch on his thigh and seemed like he was about to stab me. Before I could stop it, I blurted out, "Wait! You look like Shikama…" for a quick second, that someone flashed through my mind again and I nearly grasped his name. Then I forgot it as rapidly as it came and I drifted off, looking confused. _

_The stranger looked at me weirdly and said, "You're from Konoha, right? What are you doing on Stone borders? You know very well that we're about to wage war, right? Plus, I'm not a Shika-whatever. I'm a ninja from Iwagakure, Ganseki Sentarou. You must be talking about Konoha's top Tactician and Strategists Head, Nara Shikamaru. Everyone who looks at the bingo book and notices his picture comments that I look like him…" Sentarou laughed as if the thought seemed ludicrous to him. His voice had a lazy undertone that captivated me; again familiar. _

"_Come to think of it…you're in the bingo book too, aren't you?"_

_I shook my head, what the heck was he talking about? I just told him what he asked for. "I don't know if I'm from Konoha. I don't know what I'm doing on these "Stone borders" or if Konoha's gonna go benihana on you guys. I don't even know who I am!" At that time, I didn't know why I was pouring my whole story to this guy. That was my first mistake – trusting my life to this stranger whom I felt weirdly comfortable with._

_Sentarou stared at me for a long time then, as if he was running some things through his head._

"_You lost your memories? You're the famous Shintenshin user Nara Ino of Konoha, aren't you – nevermind. Actually…I…" he drifted off then, as if struggling with himself. I was realllyyy getting confused. _

"_How could you forget our home, Hyacia?" there was a change in his tone of voice, something sad that touched my heart deeply. I should've heard the obvious fake underneath it. _

"_Hyacia…?" I murmured, wondering if that was my name. _

"_Yes," he said more confidently. "You're Toyumi Hyacia from Iwagakure, like me. I've been sent to find you by our Tsuchikage because you went missing yesterday. I've been questioning you to make sure that you're the right person and that you're ok. Seems that you are…sheesh, I'm going to have to explain to Imagawa-sama that you've lost your memories." _

_Suddenly, I felt safer, like I had a home and an identity, but I still had a question to ask._

"_Why am I wearing this plate-thing that represents Konoha, as you say it does?"_

_Sentarou jumped in without missing a beat. "Before you went missing, it was reported that someone with a Konoha metal plate – it's called a hitai-ate (_head protector) _by the way – came to you and talked to you. No one knows what happened next, but you put on the Konoha hitai-ate he offered you and left with him. I guess you suddenly lost your memories so that guy just deemed you useless and left you behind. Apparently, he put you under a jutsu that made you leave with him so you could become Konoha's tool. After all, you are famous in Iwagakure for your skillful jutsus and ninja mastery. Konoha must've been desperate to have you on their side…"_

_Strangely, I felt an abrupt wave of hate and anger towards Konoha. I was a Stone ninja, and how dare they try to take me as their own?_

_Sentarou took me to the Iwagakure village and made we wait while he talked to the Tsuchikage privately. _

_It was ridiculous that they left the office door open for me to easily overhear._

"…_so I found Nara Ino, from Konoha. She lost her memories, Imagawa-sama. I convinced her that she was one of us and that her name is Toyumi Hyacia. I have a brilliant idea. Imagawa-sama, I propose that we either ransom her back to Konoha or use her as a skillful weapon __**against **__Konoha. Afterall, she still thinks this is her home and that Konoha are her enemies. Plus, Nara Ino, now our Toyumi Hyacia, is renown for her overwhelming power over everyone's minds – the Shintenshin jutsu. If we can use her as one of us, she can turn the tide to our favor in the war against Konoha. Imagine their faces when they see their own ninja kill of their ranks, Imagawa-sama!"_

_I was shocked. Not only did Sentarou __**lie**__, but he was planning to use me against my own flesh and blood. _

_I heard the chuckles of an older man, presumably the Tsuchikage. _

"_You have done well, Sentarou," I heard his gravelly, rough voice say. "I prefer to use her as our weapon. What power we will have! However, we must explain to this Hyacia why there's a wedding ring on her left hand."_

_I looked down at my hands and realized that I was indeed wearing a pretty silver ring with a pale blue sapphire on it. Was I married? Come to think of it, Sentarou had mentioned that I was Nara Ino and a name of Nara Shikamaru. Seemingly my…husband? And Sentarou had also commented on how Shikamaru's and his appearances were the same, and that explained why I had instantly felt comfortable with his presence. Still…I couldn't remember the real Shikamaru. _

"_Ha! Imagawa-sama, that ring is the least of our worries. When I first met her, she instantaneously trusted her very life to me. She even thought I looked like her husband Nara Shikamaru, whom she remembered for a split second. Which, indeed, I do look like him. In fact, I can impersonate him here in Iwagakure. If we could make a duplicate of that ring and present some fake marriage papers, I could pretend that we are married. I could also explain to her that Toyumi was her maiden last name and that I've been using it so she wouldn't be uncomfortable around a husband and last name of Ganseki that she didn't remember."_

"_Very good, but the people…?"_

"_Ah yes, I was getting to that. We could make a secret announcement behind Ino's back and instruct everyone to act like she's lived here her whole life. It's all planned out, Imagawa-sama! It will certainly work."_

_Both of them laughed sinisterly and I shuddered from my seat outside my office. I heard a small 'poof' that sounding like a hand seal being activated._

_After their triumphant reverie, the cunning charlatan Sentarou came out and made his face all sorrowful._

"_Dear Hyacia-san, the Tsuchikage and I have been talking about your position here in the Stone. He's been incredibly understanding about this matter and how dreadful Konoha tried to steal you away from us and our family."_

_I feigned distress and innocence. It wouldn't do to let them know I was listening. "Sentarou-san, thank you."_

_He nodded and a small smile spread across his face. "We've decided to let you know about your family here in Stone. He kneeled down in front of me, obviously forced tears spread in his eyes. He showed me a ring identical to mine on his finger. I then realized that the small 'poof' in the office was the activating of a genjutsu to make it seem that he was wearing a ring like mine. _

"_Hyacia, you are Ganseki Hyacia. You and I were married for half a year. Both our parents and siblings died in a feud against Konoha. Together, we can fight for their honor and in revenge. Hyacia…I can't put it in words how sorry I am that you lost your precious memories of us as a married couple."_

_Inwards, I gagged. What a play this guy was putting up. But for then…I had to play on their side. Against Konoha. Against my real husband, Nara Shikamaru. And these horrible excuses of ninja were expecting me to kill them. _

_To be continued…_

_-_

_Preview of Next Chapter –_

"Hyacia…" I slammed a kunai into his shoulder and pushed him into the next wall. "Where is the real Shikamaru?"

Shikamaru rested his head against the dirty wall. His attempt to rescue Ino had failed, and they both were probably going to pay with their lives.

Sakura stared into a pair of beautiful cerulean eyes. "Ino…?" The blonde merely smiled menacingly at her and proceeded to stab her in the stomach with a katana.


	3. Asphodel

**Warning – this chapter contains violence and blood. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, its storyline, or characters. However, this fanfiction is based on Naruto, and is my creation.**

Omoide Sokoneru : Lost Memories

Chapter 3 – Asphodel – Regret

-

For the past three weeks, I've been living in Iwagakure with the deceptive Sentarou. It disgusts me, pretending like I'm slowly regaining memories and love for this despicable man when truthfully, I remember nothing. Although I've lost all past recollection, for some reason, a sharp pain presses at my chest whenever I look at Sentarou and think of what my real husband's like.

-

"A Stone hitai-ate…" murmured Shikamaru.

"It can't be possible! She been gone three weeks now, yes. But there's no reason why she would suddenly betray us!" protested a pink-haired kunoichi.

"Well…the ANBU commander Hyuuga Neji used his Byakugan, and those eyes cannot lie. He saw past the walls of Iwagakure and saw our missing ninja, wearing a Stone hitai-ate. And—," Tsunade hesitated, then continued in a rush. "She was smiling, chatting happily with someone who looked incredibly like you, Shikamaru."

Shikamaru stayed silent, averting his eyes to the ground, running frantic thoughts through his head.

Then, he responded slowly, "Tsunade-sama, I mean no disrespect. But have you noticed that in her days before her disappearance, Ino was forgetting a lot more things than usual? It was awkward, seeing her forget when missions were or how to even make a simple rice ball!"

Tsunade frowned. "Why, yes, but I dismissed it, thinking that she was overworked."

Shikamaru nodded. "Has anyone foreign entered the village? Like, someone could've entered, presumably people from Stone, and placed Ino under a jutsu to lose her memories, then lure her to Iwagakure and make her their own citizen there."

The Godaime shook her head confidently. "If such a person took a single step into Konoha, I would've been notified easily. And everyday, as a routine, all Gate Guards are herded to the office and a truth-serum is administered to force them to report every little detail of what happened during the day."

Shikamaru closed his eyes, kneeled to the ground and placed his hands together in his familiar "Shikamaru's-Thinking-Do-Not-Disturb" position.

_Think, Nara, think. Gather the clues. First, Ino begins closing up her feelings. She's been strangely depressed, pressured by guilt...cause of guilt unknown. She begins forgetting things, Check. She doesn't arrive from her latest mission, Check. After three days, ANBU are sent out to look for her, Check. Three weeks have passed, still missing…cause of disappearance unknown. Day after three weeks have passed, she is sighted in Stone…cause of being there, unknown. _Shikamaru stood up, a bit more self-assured now that he had narrowed things down. Tsunade and Sakura calmly listened while he reported the details.

"You see, Ino first gets depressed, forgets things, and then is found in Stone. All of these things are unknown. But in the end, they all end in her being in Stone. Cause and effect? Certainly. What you said earlier, Tsunade-sama, made me think. You passed Ino's behavior as merely being 'overworked.' 'Overworked,' in certain terms, is right. If I may do a bit of guesswork, the Shintenshin justu can take a lot out of a person, and Ino uses it on every mission. Ino 'overworked' her jutsu after a long while and chances are, something caused her to gain an over-sensory perceptiveness into her victims."

Tsunade and Sakura frowned, but nodded. It was a bit incredible, but possible. They allowed him to continue his analysis.

"Let's see, enough memories from ninety-four people from ninety-four missions are way too much for one person's mind. Think of her mind like a computer. Her mind goes into auto-pilot, destroying memories to accumulate enough memory space for the new ones. However, the mind can't do this constantly, so it does a total mind wipe, and the computer is clean and fresh to start with a new disk. It could be possible to retrieve her memories if she accustoms herself with things she always did before the mind wipe. Anything could trigger her memories to flood back to her, and that's what we're aiming for. This is hard to do, of course, seeing as she's in Stone. And by now, she's probably thinking that Konoha are her enemies and that she's lived in Iwagakure all her life."

Tsunade nodded slowly. "I guess then, although I may regret it…I'll allow you two to infiltrate Stone, accommodate yourselves there and make everyone trust you, and then whisk her out of there if possible. Some plausible disguises are as foreign traders or tourists. Anything, but ninja."

Sakura threw her arms around Tsunade in a hug in a babble of "thank yous" and Shikamaru bowed respectively.

"We'll go at once!"

-

Ino languished around Iwagakure's markets, pretending to shop. Surprisingly, pretending like she enjoyed it here was easy. Sentarou shared a home, and thankfully, he told her that "he was waiting for her to regain her memories before ongoing their married relationship," meaning they had separate rooms and he didn't make her do the cooking. Mostly they ate out and she pretended like she liked his presence. (which she didn't)

What made Ino most annoyed was that the Stone villagers made false exclamations of joy and sympathy, like, "Oh Hyacia, we're glad you're back!" and "Too bad you lost your memories, we were such good friends, you and I!" Apparently, the Tsuchikage's secret announcement worked.

Behind her back, somehow, Sentarou acquired a huge supply of female clothing and told her that before she lost her memories, those were the clothes she wore. Fortunately, they were fashionable and they fit her well.

One day, putting up her tragic-memory-loss-girl-trying-to-get-used-to-things ploy, she found herself strangely drawn to flowers. In one of her days in the public markets, she found that her legs were moving of their own accord to the nearest florist shop. Ino stared at the windows and the flowers on display and clicked her tongue disapprovingly.

"Ugly, that arrangement is distasteful," she murmured to herself at a vase containing a garish firework of purple and yellow pansies.

Ino entered the shop, and before she knew what she was doing, her hands automatically moved towards the vases, rearranging, extracting, and completing masterpieces. A woman rushed up to Ino, and angry "stop that!" placed on her lips, but stopped and gasped in wonder at the ikebana the shop-violator presented.

Before the florist's eyes was one of her prized white porcelain vases that had previously contained the purple and yellow pansies. Now, inside it was a single white rose in the center, surrounded by a twisting, mesmerizing pattern of red and pale pink chrysanthemums. In a blink of an eye, Ino had trimmed off the clumsily undone thorns on each stem and lovingly arranged them.

For some reason, Ino was drawn to the flowers, like she belonged there. It was almost like she had done it all her life…

Outside, Sentarou was watching her from afar.

"No!" he spat angrily to himself. "She's not supposed to remember. Not yet. She has to fight for us first! I'll have to confine her before she touches anything else that triggers more memories…"

-

After eight hours, Shikamaru and Sakura reached the outskirts of Iwagakure. Their weapons were cleverly hidden among their clothes, which were civilian's instead of their ninja outfits. Sakura was pretending to be a normal traveling doctor (she wouldn't show that she used chakra in her healings) and that Shikamaru was her assistant.

They showed the Stone Gate Guards expertly created false traveling IDs and they were allowed in, only warned that any toe out of the line would be unacceptable.

-

The village was abuzz with the uncommon news – two foreign doctors had arrived and since Iwagakure did not receive much tourists or travelers, it was quite a big deal. Everyone did their best to welcome them warmly…except the Tsuchikage. Little did Sakura and Shikamaru know, Sentarou had seen through their guise. He sensed that their chakra, however painstakingly concealed, were tons larger than that of normal civilians. Everyone, ninja or not, had chakra in them and these visitors had a considerable amount.

To remedy this, Sentarou and the Tsuchikage had prepared a warm welcome.

-

Sometime in the noon, on her second day of the third week at Iwagakure, Sentarou arrived at "their" home with a strange smile on his face.

"Hyacia, my dear! I'll be in my room for awhile, don't bother me please, 'k?" Sentarou announced, and then closed the door to his room. Shortly after, muffled clanging noises were heard behind the wood.

Ino had been doing her laundry and this announcement perked her curiosity. Why had he seemed strangely happy and why did he suddenly need this privacy? Every day, he had devoted himself to having bonding time with his "wife Hyacia," and this was a sudden change.

The blonde dropped her laundry and crept up the halls. Her body instinctively concealed the chakra she didn't know she had. She opened the door and found herself become the target of a star-looking metal projectile. Her first reaction was shock and she couldn't hear the man crying in panic, "Hyacia, look out!"

Ino didn't think; she acted. Her ninja- trained body bent backwards and her hand flew up and snatched the flying weapon out of the air by the hole in the middle, twirling it expertly around her fingers before holding it. Ino frowned – _how had she done that? _

Inwards, Sentarou cursed. She had already gained some use of her ninja skills.

Before Ino or he could ask anything of what happened, a knock rapped on the house door and Ino wordlessly dropped the strange stars onto the ground before answering, shooting a look over her back that clearly meant, "We're not done yet; you better explain stuff to me."

At the door was a ninja. "I want to see Ganseki Sentarou," he announced, eyeing Ino with distrust.

Sentarou came behind her and announced his presence.

"It's time to execute the plan," the ninja said, smirking.

Ino looked at Sentarou confusedly. "What plan?"

Sentarou didn't answer, he just merely brushed past her and exited the house along with the ninja.

Ino fumed angrily, staring at the door he had firmly closed in front of her face. She wanted answers, and she wanted them right then.

-

Shikamaru settled heavily on the hotel bed with a grunt. "How troublesome," he mumbled.

"I'm going to scout out the area for a bit, okay?" Sakura announced, walking out before he could even respond.

The moment she walked out, an unfamiliar chakra signature grew closer to Shikamaru. Sensing it, he jumped up from the bed, alarmed. Suddenly, the window slid open and in the blink of an eye, two Stone ninjas flew in, flinging kunai after shuriken after him. The genius cursed – he should have predicted enemy forces unveiling his and Sakura's true identities and intentions. Rapidly, Shikamaru commanded the seals to his Kagemane no Jutsu (Shadow Imitation Technique) and held the two in place, using the shadows of the flying weapons to connect to them.

Grimly satisfied, Shikamaru walked forward, forcing them to do the same.

"Now tell me…" before he could finish the sentence, a third ninja dropped from the ceiling and pushed the nerve at the back of Shikamaru's head, rendering him immobile and near unconsciousness. Before rendered completely asleep, he regretted not remembering the basic of all sneak attacks.

-

Sakura wandered around Iwagakure, mapping her surroundings in her mind to report to Shikamaru later. She smiled, acted natural, and said hello to the friendly villagers. After completing the one-person tour of the living district and markets, Sakura moved towards the more isolated areas, like the bordering forests. In the middle, she met the back of someone very familiar.

The figure noticed the other girl and turned. It was Ino.

Sakura stared into a pair of cerulean eyes. "Ino…?" The blonde merely smiled menacingly at her and proceeded to stab her in the stomach with a katana she pulled from a sheath on her back. The pink-haired kunoichi blinked in horror and shock, registered what had happened, and felt the torrent of pain and blood spread on her lower stomach. 'Ino' spread her grin wider and slowly, excruciatingly twisted the katana, causing more blood to drip onto the ground.

"No…" Sakura gritted her teeth. "You…aren't…her! You…" she slowly grabbed the blade of the bloodied steel and watched in faint amusement as the pseudo-Ino's eyes widened. She pulled the katana fully out, used the ninja's amazement as an advantage, and swept the hilt from his or her hand. Before she could use the weapon against the imposter, Sakura staggered from blood-loss and pain, her eyes splitting and seeing two of everything. Everything swam in front of her eyes before Sakura collapsed onto the grass, near dead.

The imposter recovered from the shock and dragged up Sakura's body, dismissing his shadow transformation in a 'poof.' It was a Sentarou.

-

Shikamaru awoke in a dirty cell with no furniture. The only exits were a barred window high up on a wall and an iron-gate locked door on the opposite end. There was a gag around his mouth and metal shackles around his limbs – he didn't even need to guess to know that any forced attempt on the chains would trigger a chakra electrocution. He sighed, "How troublesome…"

Inwardly, he was torn apart. Ino's position was still obscure, and Sakura was probably dead. Or not. Right then, the iron door to his cell opened and an unconscious Sakura was pushed in where she collapsed onto the cold floor. The ninja accompanying her knelt down; smirking triumphantly while fixating chains on her limbs as well.

The ninja got up to leave when he paused and turned around to stare at Shikamaru. The genius stared back with a penetrating gaze. He assumed that the ninja was Ganseki Sentarou, judging by his looks…which looked exactly like his except for the lighter shade of brown in his eye. Sentarou broke from the staring contest, smiling again before leaving and shutting the gate.

Without looking back, he said, "Your Nara Ino…or…_my _Ganseki Hyacia…is still clueless about her memories. And it'll stay that way. She'll love me and stay with me in Iwagakure. And she'll fight with me to the end. Against Konoha and all those you love."

Shikamaru blazed in anger, nearly jumping up when a bolt of blue negative chakra shot up the chains and forced him down. The Konoha ninja restrained the pain, gritting his teeth. He would not scream in front of the despicable man, for all his worth. Sentarou just smirked annoyingly again and left. Tiredly, Shikamaru rested his head against the dirty wall. His attempt to rescue Ino had failed, and they both were probably going to pay with their lives.

-

I was incredibly steamed. Okay, being a Stone nin, Sentarou had every reason to conceal his plans from me. But I was beyond caring. First, I realized that somehow, I was gifted with ikebana that should've been practiced for years. Meaning that in my "pre-memory wipe time," I was some kind of person who arranged flowers for either a living or a hobby. Most likely a living, seeing as I felt so confident about it.

Second, I somehow protected myself from those weird flying saucer-thingies. How did I do that? Was I ninja before, in my pre-memory wipe time too, besides a florist?

I decided that searching Sentarou's room for information was the best way to start.

In his room, I found pictures of he and a pink-haired girl posted all over the walls. When I leaned closer to the pictures, and saw scribbled names on their bottoms. I found that the familiar man was not Sentarou at all, but…Nara Shikamaru. My husband. I could feel the fluttering in my heart and warmth spread on my face, although I hardly knew this guy. The pink-haired girl's pictures had the name of Haruno Sakura written on them. Suddenly, I thought of a laughing kunoichi hugging me, a red ribbon in her hair that I recognized as mine. Was she…my friend?

Unnerved, I stepped away from the walls. Apparently, as seeing the ripped surfaces of each picture, Sentarou was practicing chucking the flying saucers at them. No wonder he looked so happy – he got a job of killing people he wanted to kill. A chill ran through me – people he wanted to kill, and that meant Shikamaru and Sakura.

_It's time to execute the plan._

I jolted back with horror. I realized…Plan. To. Kill. Them.

I pushed the terrible thoughts from my head. They couldn't be in Iwagakure, could they? They should've been safe in Konoha…no way. Today, all of Stone got stirred up because two visitors, a female doctor and her male assistant came…and it's them.

Another poster on the wall caught my attention. It was a poster that had pictures of basic weapons and fighting positions labeled on it. Although Sentarou was probably past these levels of fighting, it was probably a memento from his childhood. I found a picture of those handled, diamond-shaped daggers and the metal stars. Those were called "kunai" and "shuriken." The words rolled easily off my tongue, and I knew it right away.

Suddenly, all the weapons and scrolls…all the preciously learned jutsus I accumulated from all my seventeen years came rushing back to me. But no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't remember people. So far I could only recall my life as a florist, my skills and jutsus, and how to handle weapons.

Right then, an unfamiliar presence neared. I guess it was called "chakra signature," if I remember correctly. I got incredibly nervous. An assassin? A friend? '

I found some of the scattered kunai and shuriken that Sentarou had been working with earlier on. Soon, a 'poof' resounded, and there was Nara Shikamaru. Except…it wasn't Nara Shikamaru. His chakra didn't match his identity at all! It was an imposter.

I narrowed my eyes in anger and readied one of the kunai in my hand.

"Ino! Thank god I found you, Sakura and I were looking every—"

I didn't give the disgraceful fraud time to finish.

I slammed the kunai into his shoulder and pushed him into the next wall. "Where is the real Shikamaru?!"

The jutsu deactivated and I found myself looking into the eyes of the ninja I saw before at the door.

"S-Sentarou sent me to do this to see if you regained any of your memories…seems like you did…" he hissed in pain.

"That's not the answer I asked of you!" God, my dear friends who came to rescue me could be dead by now and this pathetic boy was rambling on about memories. LIKE I CARED, DIDN'T HE SEE THAT I WANTED TO KNOW WHERE MY FRIENDS WERE?! What an _idiot. _

He smirked and whispered a sentence that took a painful blow to my heart.

"They're dead."

_To be continued…_

-

_Preview of Next Chapter – _

"What do you mean dead?!"

"Exactly what I mean. They were tortured in every possible way and then executed."

-

I stared at his body on the floor, crimson liquid puddling out beneath him. "No…no...THIS CAN'T HAPPEN!!!"

-

"I'm sorry, Ino." Sakura took a trembling breath. "Too late. You're too late."

-----


	4. Cyclamen

**Warning – this chapter contains violence and blood. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, its storyline, or characters. However, this fanfiction is based on Naruto, and is my creation.**

Omoide Sokoneru : Lost Memories

Chapter 4 – Cyclamen– Resignation and Goodbye

-

The guards came swiftly with disgusting smirks on their faces. By that time, Sakura was awake and Shikamaru had told her what their inevitable fate would be – death. The guards opened the iron door and roughly pulled up the two hostages; carry/dragging them down a hall to an open corridor. Sentarou and the Tsuchikage sat waiting. The guards dropped the two Konoha ninja onto their knees in front of the Stone leaders.

"Well, the two of you must've said your prayers already," laughed the Tsuchikage, laughing at his own preposterous joke.

Shikamaru and Sakura sat silently. They didn't even look afraid or fidget to get out of the ropes that held their arms back.

Sentarou frowned. "Before you die, we wanted to extract some…information about Konoha. Tell us – what are the Hokage's weak points? Is Konoha running out of weapons? Even more so – how is Konoha suffering without your precious Ino to fight besides you? I've sent one of my ninja with a jutsu transformation of you, Shikamaru, to see if she's regained any of her memories. She probably hadn't! And since she hasn't yet, she'll still fight for us, Iwagakure!"

His oily laughter of sick mirth rang through the hall.

When they didn't answer, the Tsuchikage's face hardened in anger at their defiance.

He gestured to the guards.

"Begin."

The guards lowered their spears…and started the torture.

-

"Dead? What do you mean, dead?!"

"Exactly what I mean. They were tortured in every possible way and then executed."

Ino hissed in anger twisting the kunai into the jounin's shoulder even harder. "No. They can't be. It's only been around forty minutes. They couldn't have been captured and executed that fast!"

The Stone jounin inwardly grinded his teeth. The Konoha woman had seen through his lie. He jumped to an answer, trying to dig out of the pit he had fallen into.

"Our ninjas of Iwagakure are stronger – way stronger than your precious Shikamaru and Sakura!"

A shadowed smirk slowly spread across Ino's face. "Strong? What do you know of strong? You Stone ninjas are nothing compared to us of Konoha. You are merely pebbles – no, grains of sand and dirt underneath our feet. You think you know tough? It's how people act and how they use their brains and skills."

She tapped her forehead with her unoccupied hand and the smirk grew, sending shudders down the pinned jounin's back. "And….apparently, you don't have a brain; nor the rest of you pathetic Stone shinobi."

The man's face creased in anger. With a quick motion, he swept up his arm and pulled the kunai out of his shoulder, unpinning himself from the wall he was backed up against. He jumped over Ino and swung out the door, the blonde swiftly recovering from the momentary shock and chasing after him in a mad dash.

When they reached the living room, Ino swept down and grabbed the laundry clothes that she had dropped before to go investigate Sentarou's doings. With the still-wet sheets in hand, she rapidly twisted a rope together and tripped the ninja's feet from under him as he tried to run by. Yes, tripped a strong, strapping Stone jounin with soiled laundry.

The Stone ninja struggled on the floor as Ino pinned him down with some couch cushions and another kunai. (Couch cushions :D) However, his arm sneaked out and pulled a scroll out of his vest.

With Ino's slightly recovered knowledge of her whole life's training, she immediately recognized what it was. Before she could stop him, he bit his thumb and smeared the blood that came out onto the surface of the unwrapped scroll.

The scroll activated with an aqua-colored glow shining through the kanji. Nothing else happened. Then, the two ninja felt it – a pulse in the air. Ino groaned inwardly.

The scroll had alerted every Stone ninja and village ally of the Stone that they were under attack – meaning that the ninja had summoned the help of approximately two thousand people and even more, depending on how many other villages were allies with the Stone.

-

The pulse came unexpectedly – Shikamaru and Sakura were bleeding heavily. The guards had cut them enough so that any regular person would have been screaming themselves hoarse, but the ninja withstood quietly, greatly displeasing the audience, namely the Tsuchikage and Sentarou.

Suddenly, the ripple of force waved through the air and in the middle of the air in front of every ninja wearing a Stone hitai-ate appeared some shining blue kanji spelling, "Help – Konoha ninja on the loose. Must be captured and detained – from Koroshi Himaya."

Sentarou and the Tsuchikage stood, contemplating the words. "That means…Ino has gained her memories and fought back Koroshi. And if Koroshi unleashed his emergency scroll…that means she poses a threat. A big one." Sentarou finally said flatly.

"Big enough to summon our help and the help of the Sunagakure (Sand Village)." The Tsuchikage added.

Finally, Sakura spoke up with confidence, despite the bloody cuts on her face. "That won't happen. You haven't heard, have you? Gaara of the Sand became their Kazekage, and has alliance with Konoha to boot. Your treaty with Sunagakure was officially annulled, without your say in the matter."

With a smirk, Shikamaru added, "Well, this is all troublesome and all, say," he rolled his eyes, "we being treated so cruelly as it is, but we'll kindly let you know that they won't come running to save you."

The Tsuchikage gritted his teeth in annoyance. "Still, Stone has more than enough to eliminate you little worms. Killing you three will be so easy, with two thousand on the hunt. Let's say…we make this _fun."_

-

In a second, three 'poofs' resounded and Ino was pulled back from the Stone jounin she was pummeling her frustration out on.

"Captured," one affirmed into a hooked mouthpiece. From the other end, the piece crackled to life and a familiar, gravelly voice belonging to the Tsuchikage thanked the shinobi.

"Now bring her here," the voice ordered from the earphones, loud enough for the jounin on the floor, Ino, and the other two ninja to hear.

Ino struggled vainly as two ninja on either side of her lifted her arms and carried her between them, leaving her feet dangling haplessly as she kicked out.

Soon, she found herself being carried to the center of Iwagakure – the Tsuchikage's headquarters.

-

There was a blinding flash around them. The ropes binding their arms behind their backs were cut and Shikamaru and Sakura rubbed their wrists gingerly, urging their blood to warm back into their hands.

The two found themselves in a stadium, presumably Stone's version of the chuunin match fighting arena. Stone ninjas were seated in the audience, staring, whispering, and pointing at the two people from Konoha in the middle of the stadium.

Sakura reached over and healed Shikamaru and her cuts and bruises, murmuring a quick, "Better be prepared for ahead. They might unleash some ninja to fight us for their amusement."

"Like gladiators," Shikamaru finished for her.

Suddenly, the audience went up in an uproar, and the two Konoha ninja swiveled around to see what had gotten them stirred up. Two Stone nin had thrown Ino into the arena and left to seat themselves and watch what was next.

"Ino!" Shikamaru ran up the blonde and pulled her up gently. "You…"

"Shikamaru," she smiled weakly. "I'm sorry, I don't remember you. But…I…I feel like I'm in love with you every time I see y—"

"Oh, how disgustingly _touching!" _The Tsuchikage's voice boomed over the stadium's speakers. Shikamaru and Ino leapt back in surprise.

"Send in the golems," Stone's leader commanded, his voice booming all around them.

_Golems? _The three united Konoha ninjas thought in unison.

The Tsuchikage jumped into an explanation, his gloating obvious in his voice as he spoke through the microphone.

"You see, Iwagakure ninjas have been experimenting with stones and boulders. We have created massive stone golems and placed human souls in them! They're our weapons, only, _indestructible!_"

Everyone gasped, the Stones in amazement and the Konohans in horror.

A steel gate opened from the other side of the stadium and the audience immediately quieted. Everything and everyone was deathly still as two golems made of haphazardly placed round boulders lumbered in lazily, swinging their powerful rock arms as they moved. The golems immediately faced Shikamaru, Ino, and Sakura. And the three suddenly knew what they were – blood sport: amusement for their enemies.

"Run!" side-whispered Shikamaru to the two frozen girls.

"Are you crazy? What about you?!" Sakura and Ino muttered back.

The golems were slowly drawing nearer, great red lights flashing where their eyes were.

"My Kagemane no Jutsu (Shadow Imitation Technique) will hold them. For how long, I don't know. JUST GO!"

Ino stayed, urgently tugging at Shikamaru's mesh net sleeve.

"What is it – make it quick, they're coming!"

Ino whispered her plan in his and Sakura's ears and they nodded in agreement. The plan was risky, but it would be worth it if it worked. If it didn't…then that was a totally different matter, per say they end up being dead.

Sakura jumped up, boosting herself with a shot of chakra. She hurtled back down again, purposefully aiming her foot down at one of the golems. Shikamaru rapidly activated his Kagemane no Jutsu, using Sakura's shadow and connecting with the golem. The golem froze in place and Sakura landed safely behind it.

"Now!" Shikamaru shouted. Ino switched her soul into the golem's armor and Sakura leapt to catch her body as it fell.

Everyone could only stare transfixed in awe as one golem started bashing the other senseless, which was strangely frozen. Finally, one was reduced to an unmoving pile of rubble, and there was one left to go, which was the one Ino was in.

The blonde quickly transferred her soul back. She didn't receive any visions, which was probably because the golem wasn't a purely living thing with any real memories.

The golem regained its consciousness once Ino left its body and it charged at them with wrath, faster than before. Sakura stepped forward and punched the ground with a surge of chakra, breaking the whole ground of the stadium and sending shatters of rock and rubble to the audience. The rocks effectively burying everyone and the golem together. Shikamaru, who had grabbed Ino and jumped up to avoid the collision, landed gently down, unhurt.

"Phew," Sakura breathed out in relief and exhaustion. "It worked."

Most of the stronger ninja of Stone was beginning to sift away the rock and emerge…even more angered than before.

"Get them!" shouted the Tsuchikage, who pushed away the boulder that landed on top of him.

The three Konohans took the words as a bid to run. And run they did, jumping out of the stadiums and into the forests.

About two-hundred Stone shinobi regained consciousness from the blast quickly and leapt after them.

"Split up!" shouted Shikamaru. "We'll find each other when we throw them off!"

The girls nodded and turned parted ways.

It wasn't long until Ino met some ninja after running around the woods aimlessly.

"We've got her!" one shouted. Two dived for her and she shot some of the kunai she retrieved earlier at their heads, stabbing through their heads and causing them to die instantly. She knocked out others by using her martial arts.

As she dived deeper into the forests, Ino became surrounded by more and more ninja. Apparently, they had been monitoring her movements and waited for her.

There were about eight of them, circling around her. Some were bold enough to jump in and try attacking her back with a kunai in hand, but she deflected them and fought back. While she was preoccupied with two men who had tried the method, the others took the chance to attack her. _Cowardly! _She screamed inside.

Ino stabbed the two men and whirled around to face the others, only to be kicked back into the air. She heard the unmistakable sound of her ribs breaking. As her body flew through the air, she joined her hands in a hurried seal. When her back roughly met contact with the wood of the tree, she puffed into smoke and appeared behind the one that kicked her.

The pain was unimaginable. It hit her like a horrible tidal wave that throttled her body. Ninja, no matter how strong, are human and they have instinctive feelings. Be realistic – she couldn't jump back up and fight when her three of her ribs were broken and threatening to puncture her heart. Right then, her instincts were screaming, _Run! Run away from it all! _But a painful thought occurred to her that Sakura and Shikamaru might've needed her help. So she stayed and fought, fighting the pain and fighting her enemies.

She stabbed at the infuriating enemies and boosted her feet with chakra and she jumped into the air. While in midair, she initiated a seal and murmured, "Ninpo: Hyakka Ryōran!" (Ninja Art: Profusion of Flowers)

The four remaining enemies beneath her froze and their eyes glazed over. Ino knew, although she couldn't see what they were seeing, that her genjutsu paralyzed them and made them see flower petals shoot past them. Except that they weren't regular petals. As the petals whizzed by, they would turn into daggers and strike them as they passed, definitely ensuring that all of them would be dead by the time the three minutes of the genjutsu was over.

Ino left the bodies and limped away, clutching her abdomen where the broken rib were. After a few minutes of the painful walking, who was she to meet? Ganseki Sentarou.

"Nara Ino," he said calmly. "Come back to Stone. Work for us! Konoha is below us. In Stone, there are so many things you can accomplish, so many things you can prove your worth for. Don't run back to those sickening worms you call husband and friend!"

Ino walked up to Sentarou and for a moment, his hopes were raised. Right when she was eye-to-eye with him, she disappeared in a puff of smoke, momentarily blinding him. She flashed up behind him and stabbed him with some senbon on the pressure points on his back. Sentarou swiveled around and pulled out the senbon with a curse, noticing that the metal needles were his own. He stared at the tips of the senbon. They were black. Earlier, he poisoned his senbon so that he could successfully kill off the two imposters that came to Stone.

"You poisoned me," he murmured in shock. When he looked up, she was gone. Sentarou looked around in paranoia. "You little—!!!" he shouted to the air. Beneath him, a hand rose from the forest floor and grabbed his leg, pulling him down.

He smirked, "You shouldn't have done that." Sentarou reached for the ground and yanked up the hand, initiating a jutsu with his other hand.

"If you haven't gotten the fact into your pretty blonde head yet that I am a **Stone **ninja, and that I can work with rocks and ground, you are truly mentally retarded."

Before Ino could make an equally hurtful response, Sentarou made some more seals, shouting, "Doton: Retsudotenshō!" (Earth Release: Split Earth Turn Around Palm)

He released his grip on Ino's wrist and let her fall back down into the pit she had come from. The technique caused the ground surrounding Ino to spiral inwards on itself, crushing down on her. _I'm being buried alive! _She thought frantically. Above her, Sentarou was laughing madly.

Ino pulled her wits together and thought quickly. It was hard to move her arm in the dirt, but she managed. She ripped off a strip of the shirt Sentarou had gotten behind her back and bit her finger on her other hand. With the blood, she hastily smeared a crimson seal onto the purple cloth. _Explosive tag, _she thought with satisfaction while transferring some of her chakra into the seal. She had made a special kind where the explosion would only hit the enemy and not do any harm to her self.

She placed the makeshift explosive seal onto the dirt above her head and stabbed it with a senbon. In a split second, the ground above her exploded and she emerged from the pit. Sentarou was sprawled on the ground, knocked from the explosion. He sat up in anger and stood up to confront her when a green glow emitted from his skin. Steam and a noxious fume arose from his body and he collapsed again. "The poison," he screamed in panic. His body twitched uncontrollably for a time as if in seizures, and then he stopped breathing.

Ino sighed at the gruesome death. "That serves you right, tricking me and impersonating my husband, who you aren't and never will be," she said softly to the body. She walked away into the forest again.

This time, she didn't meet any ninja and the forest was strangely quiet. Had Sakura and Shikamaru eliminated the rest? It would've been possible… "Ino!"

Ino snapped her head in the direction of where her name had been called. "Ino!" the familiar voice shouted again. She ran to the sound of the voice and saw a heavily bleeding Sakura leaning against a tree. "Took you long enough," she said weakly, a painful smile on her face.

Seeing Sakura like this burned painful images into her Ino's mind. Suddenly, a flow of pictures flew past Ino's eyes. A twelve-year old Sakura from five years ago handing back the red ribbon. "We're rivals now…" Sakura, cutting off the hair gripped in Kin Tsuchi's hand. Sakura, fighting her in the chuunin exams…Ino remembered everything about their lives and memories together.

Ino softly chuckled, remembering their nicknames. She tapped Sakura's forehead, which was now a pretty average size. "Don't give up **forehead** girl. You're a medic nin, heal!"

Sakura smiled at Ino. "Finally, you got your memories back, Ino-**pig**!"

"Some," Ino admitted. "Now, use my chakra and heal yourself."

Sakura shook her head. "No Ino, it's…it's Shikamaru. He need more help than I do."

Ino cried frantically, "Where is he?!"

Her pink-haired friend pointed to the clearing a few feet back. "He said he wanted to be alone for a while. He even refused my healing!" Sakura said in a frustrated tone, shaking her head some more.

Ino cautiously wandered to Shikamaru, who was lying on the forest floor. A prodigious gash yawned from his shoulder to his lower abdomen, his arm severely crushed. On his leg were three consecutive slashes. Ino stared at his body on the floor, crimson puddling out beneath him.

"I'm sorry, Ino." Sakura took a trembling breath. "Too late. You're too late."

"No…no...THIS CAN'T HAPPEN!!!"

Ino swung around to face Sakura. "What kind of a pathetic excuse of a medic-nin are you?!" Ino knew her words were piercing her friend greatly, but at that point, she didn't care. Seeing Shikamaru's body had triggered the rest of her memories, bad and good; all of it.

"Ino…" Sakura moaned sadly. "I've tried! Somehow…he's been rejecting my healing chakra and all of it's wasted."

"Use mine then! Jump-start his heart. ANYTHING!!!" Ino had never felt that worthless in her whole life, not even when her Asuma-sensei had died. "He surely won't reject my chakra."

Sakura nodded determinedly. "Alright!" she placed her palm on Ino's arm and drew out a stream of beautiful royal purple chakra out; then shaped it into healing chakra. Sakura then channeled the chakra into Shikamaru's wounds. His body relaxed and he allowed the chakra to regenerate his blood, re-knit his muscles, and sew back the bones together.

Shikamaru woke from his deathly sleep and blinked several times, surprised that he was still alive. Ino collapsed on him, crying. "Baka! (Stupid/idiot) Baka-baka-baka!"

He grumbled himself, "How troublesome." The Konoha jounin patted Ino's head wearily.

"Do you know how much you worried me, Shikamaru-baka?! You should've allowed Sakura's chakra to heal you!"

Shikamaru sighed softly to himself. "I thought you were dead," he whispered. "I felt your chakra scream for help thirty minutes back. I got distracted then and let an enemy hurt me like this. Sakura killeded off the rest of the three but I still started dying. When it occurred to me that you might be dead, I rejected all of Sakura's healing chakra from my body and fell unconscious because I…I wanted to be with you. When you came and Sakura used your chakra, I recognized it immediately and I felt like I could hope again."

His words only made Ino sob harder. "Shikamaru-no-baka, you know I'm stronger than that! I'm the woman you married half a year ago! No-duh, you should know that I'm a monster when it comes to fighting."

That made his hopes rise. "Then…you remember…?!"

Ino nodded cheerfully, wiping away her tears. "Yeah, but you're back…and that's all that matters to me right now!"

Sakura, Ino, and Shikamaru enjoyed the silence for awhile, before Shikamaru broke it.

"Oi…you troublesome woman, Nara Ino. Can you get off me? You're awfully heavy."

-

_To be continued…_


	5. Primrose

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, its storyline, or characters. However, this fan-fiction is based on Naruto, and is my creation.**

Omoide Sokoneru : Lost Memories

Chapter 5 – Primrose – Love, "I cannot live without You"

**-**

It was there in the forests of Iwagakure where Konoha Retrieval ANBU rescued the three, who used their emergency scrolls.

"You're lucky that Ino was there," Tsunade relayed to them while she was doing an examination on their wellbeing in the hospitals. "If Shikamaru was left unhealed because he kept rejecting Sakura's chakra," (at this, Ino glared sharply at her said husband) "He would've died from blood loss and infection of wounds. Thankfully, Sakura was able to heal him alright with your chakra, Ino." Tsunade sighed and continued.

"Fortunately, you've gained your memories back, that's a plus. But, try abstaining from the use of your Shintenshin no Jutsu and its variations for awhile, lest you lose all your memories again. If you begin using it again in your early stages of mind-recovery, there could be some side effects."

When the Godaime announced them fit to leave the hospital, the three shinobi departed with great relief while Sakura left to allow Ino and Shikamaru alone-time.

Back in Stone, blood lust was being stirred up for war…

-

"That's it, Ino. Hold steady…there!"

Ino smiled in triumph. Her mind was slowly recollecting little details un-recovered from the forests, and even though she was still in the mind-healing process, Shikamaru was able to run through various jutsus besides the Shintenshin with her just for the sake of maintaining her shinobi body and abilities. Nevertheless, with all her progress, Ino wasn't satisfied with herself.

"Can I pleaaase use it? Tsunade won't find out, I swear!"

Shikamaru immediately knew what she was talking about. "No," he said firmly. "Who knows what'll happen when you use the Shintenshin again, when you're still recovering? Forget it, silly-piggy."

The blonde pouted but blushed when she heard his affectionate name for her. "Shhh! Someone will hear you…especially Sakura! She'll never let me live the name down," Ino pleaded.

Shikamaru tapped her forehead and chuckled. "Alright, alright…_silly-piggy._"

From the shadows of the training ground's trees watched a pair of eyes glittering with malicious hate. "Enjoy your time kids. I'll have revenge…for killing my friend Ogamu and nephew Sentarou…"

-

Tsunade promptly threw her desk, unbidden, out the tower window and started swearing vividly at the innocent but devastated remains of the desk sixty-feet below her.

"War! That Tsuchikage…war! Oh that 10!43)L(468#73! Ugh…at this time too. WAR?! Oh-mi-gosh…" she muttered furiously under her breath.

Five minutes earlier, Shizune burst in breathlessly, flagging flimsy slips of paper she had received in the To-the-Correspondence-of-the-Hokage Inbox.

_To the Godaime Hokage of Konohagakure._

_Under certain circumstances which I will further relay to you, I, Tsuchikage of Iwagakure, declare war with your country. These diplomatic agreements and petitions under my counsel will be listed below…" _Tsunade read furiously in her mind, skimming and skipping the names of the advisors who agreed to the war proposal. God, she hated diplomats and sovereign figures. Nevermind that she was one herself. She skipped to the second page…

…_and not only that, a certain ANBU assassin from your country, whom we firmly believe to be Nara Ino, killed our unarmed chief-of-provisions-and-weapons supplier, Ogamu Koutsugouna. Konoha has no authority to assassinate any of our citizens without relaying notice and reason. For then, we surely would have allowed you, but our village's supplier is taboo. Also, under Ninja Decree #58, in a code of honor, no ninja is to kill and unarmed man. _"Unarmed," Tsunade mumbled in irritation. "Gosh, he's a weapons supplier, and reported to have six different katana by his bedside for self-defense. If you ask me, he offered his own death in six different colors." She read on:

_Also, two of your ninja have infiltrated our village to rescue our prisoner, your Nara Ino, by rightful law. Ninja Decree #92 states that any captured ninja who did offense to a village, may be captured and detained by that village and therefore kept. Your ninja violated that law and came anyways to take away what is ours. _"Since when did Ninja Decree #92 state that any village can prey on memory-less girls who merely stepped into village borders without knowing so?"

_Those two ninja, whom we discovered is Nara Shikamaru and Haruno Sakura, combined with our captive Nara Ino, wreaked much havoc and devastation on our village property. Soon afterward, they killed an upright, outstanding citizen-shinobi of Iwagakure by the name of Ganseki Sentarou. For these reasons will we of the Stone Village declare war with no tolerance for pleas, compromises, treaties, treatises, or any such peace-making material with your own village. Take this in mind: no shinobi of yours will be spared._

_-Tsuchikage, Noboru Tokugawa_

Tsunade read the rest of the letter and calmly placed the seven pages down on her desk without saying a word while Shizune paced worriedly. No, not because of the news of war, but…Tsunade's reaction.

The desk crashed through the glass panes along with the fluttering papers a millisecond later. In the next seconds, the office was turned topsy-turvy in mass chaos.

When the hot-tempered Godaime was finished, she stood in the middle of what was once her office, panting heavily. "He wants war. He'll get war. Paid back a thousand times worse."

-

The Tsuchikage read the Godaime's reply with cool amusement. He turned to his new assistant, replacement to his nephew Ganseki Sentarou. "Prepare the shinobi, ready the weapons. No…first of all, make a public announcement that everyone is to get ready for war." His malevolent grey eyes shimmered eerily. "I want revenge. Oh, Nara Ino will rue the day she was born. Soon, she'll wish she was in Hell once I'm through with her."

-

Ino coughed immensely, pulling back from her light spar with Shikamaru. Her husband came and worriedly patted her back. Suddenly, Konoha's speakers boomed with Tsunade's voice and an announcement was heard throughout the village.

"All shinobi report to Konoha Headquarters. All shinobi report to Konoha Headquarters. War with the Stone Village will soon commence. I repeat, war will soon commence. Villagers please head down to the shelters immediately."

Shikamaru groaned. "No way. That Tsuchikage's mad I tell you, to wage war with us." He turned to her. "Ino, go to the shelters with the villagers, Tsunade will understa—"

"No!" Ino cut in firmly. "I'm not leaving you to die, Shikamaru." Her voice dropped in sorrow. "Not again…"

Her husband placed his hands on her shoulders. "You're recovering Ino! How many times do I have to tell you – Iwagakure is hunting you down and with you in this state, you'll basically be waving a red bull flag, banging a gong for them, and shouting, 'Here I am! Come and get meeee!'"

The kunoichi stepped back from Shikamaru, pulling away from his arms. "No can do, pineapple-head." She grinned and suddenly glomped him. "I'm coming with you."

Shikamaru rubbed his head wearily and looked down at the blonde bomb hugging his waist. "…How troublesome."

-

"NO!" Ino screamed. Three Stone shinobi were swinging their jian lances and katanas at Shikamaru's head. At that same moment, another attempted to stab her from behind. She quickly backflipped and fired three flame-covered kunai at him. The kunai met its mark and the ninja rapidly became a scarecrow of fire and burnt to death.

The kunoichi ignored the writhing ninja on the ground and rushed to Shikamaru's side.

The war had started with Iwagakure ambushing Konoha. The battles continued for a raging three hours while the defenseless villagers of Konoha were pensively waiting in the underground shelters.

It didn't take long for Ino and Shikamaru to get separated, but they were still in eyesight of eachother. The moment Ino or Shikamaru was attacked, their husband/wife would abandon their current enemy and leap to his/her side.

Ino slashed furiously at the three shinobi surrounding Shikamaru and received a glancing blow at her side, slitting open her royal-purple ninja uniform (the one after time-skip) and slicing a sliver of her skin. The blonde quickly retaliated and decapitated his head. An enemy kunoichi quickly rushed up and replaced him.

"A girl," Ino heard Shikamaru groan. "I can't fight girls…up to you Ino." The blonde kunoichi shrugged and inwardly chuckled at her husband's courtesy and man-etiquette, even in battle. Ino met kunai-by-kunai with the enemy female and fought a tiring battle until she cleverly tagged the girl's long, unbound hair with a sticky-backed explosive note without her noticing. She jumped back and didn't bother watching the kunoichi's body explode.

At that moment, an overwhelming chakra signature that was altogether too painful to recall hit Ino's aura sense. The Tsuchikage had entered the battle…and was racing towards her and Shikamaru's direction in a speed of fifty miles per hour. In a few seconds, he was in her view, carelessly leaping over the spilt blood and carnage. Soon, Shikamaru noticed too.

The Tacticians' Master swore in curse of his bad luck and Ino had to agree. In another few seconds, the Tsuchikage leapt up at them and swung with rage at the two with a double scythed-katana in his hands.

The Stone Leader began scything at them and it was all Shikamaru and Ino could do to stay away from the whirling blades. At that juncture, a barrage of kunai embedded themselves into the couple's flesh, drawing rivulets of blood. Shikamaru staggered and fell into the path of the Tsuchikage's blades…

Everything seemed to go in slow motion for Ino. First came five kunai that each flew into her side and hip. Then came the realization and the screaming mantra _SHIKAMARU'S HURT! _And then came the morbid knowledge that she and her husband would die…die forgotten and alone while the Iwagakure shinobi circled in triumph like Death's vultures…And then came the fact that they were surrounded and that Shikamaru's arm was cut off…and the shinobi were closing in.

Inwardly, the pure _essence _of her Shintenshin cried for release. _Save him, _it seemed to whisper slyly. _You're surrounded. But you can…you _can _kill them all. That's the only way, that's right. Just make the few seals and you can save your husband, save yourself. Kill. Kill them all… _

Then came Shikamaru's voice, echoing in her mind. "Who knows what'll happen when you use the Shintenshin again, when you're still recovering?" Followed by Tsunade's warning mentorly tone. "If you begin using it again in your early stages of mind-recovery, there could be some side effects..."

_I have to. _

In the same sluggish slow motion, Ino saw Shikamaru kneeling on the battlefield and staring at his decapitated arm in shock, with three shinobi plus the Tsuchikage slowly plowing their katanas into the aim of Shikamaru's head…

Then everything seemed to explode in white as she rapidly initiated the seals of the Shintenshin. When the world came back into focus, Ino realized that she was in another dimension, and controlling all four of them from afar.

-

"Oh wow…" breathed Shikamaru.

"Yeah," agreed Tsunade. "Impossible, in fact. Ino received no injuries from her complete mastery of the Shintenshin. To think – she can control whole crowds of people if she wanted to. This supposed mastery of the Shintenshin was an incredible legend. It could happen anytime, anywhere. Apparently, seeing you so near death triggered the legend to become un-legend and allow her to go beyond the boundaries of controlling one. Of course, since she was not in a single body, she somehow entered an alternate dimension in order to do the controlling."

From the opposite bed in Konoha's hospital, the kunoichi stirred and sat up a few seconds later, rubbing her eyes. When Ino finally opened them, she quickly burst out in a babble of frantic words and attempted to leap out of the white bed – and fell to her knees. "OhmygoshShikamaru'sgonnadiegottasavehimaghthatstupidTsuchikageIHATEHIMahhhicontrolledfourpeople…woah. Where am I?"

Tsunade and Shikamaru chuckled, gently lifting Ino back into bed.

"Get some rest, Ino," Shikamaru chided while smoothing her unbound gold strands of hair away from her face. Which made Ino notice…

"Shikamaru, your arms!" Ino exclaimed.

"Thanks to Tsunade, it was cauteri – err, healed back into place. Agh, it was troublesome, as all things are."

Ino laughed in relief and asked, "But…the war? What happened? All I know what latest happened is that I suddenly was in the heads of four people and then…everything's all hazy." She frowned. "'Can't remember."

Tsunade nodded. "A side effect. Well, it could've been worse. But because you unleashed your Shintenshin while still recovering, throughout your lifetime, you'll get lapses of forgotten memories. Of course, you'll get all of them back a few seconds or minutes afterwards. As for the battle…" the Godaime drifted off, uncertain, then turned to Shikamaru for details. "Yes, as you were saying before Ino woke up?"

"Well, I realized by the way the four shinobi were frozen the way they were into place with their katanas inches away from my head, it seemed that you were somehow controlling them all."

"Which is, the mastery of your Shintenshin skill," Tsunade interjected.

"Mastery…?" Ino mumbled in bemusement. "Yeah, like now you can control crowds of people," Shikamaru jumped into explanation.

"Anyways, you might've forgotten, but you made the Tsuchikage back off and point the katana to his own chest. Then you made him shout in a chakra-magnified voice for every Iwagakure ninja to drop their weapons and retreat or else he would kill himself. Very clever, Ino."

Ino blushed as Shikamaru continued. "It seemed to be pretty effective, as they all surrendered to Konoha. I guess now, since all the shinobi are in our dungeons, that's it's up to Tsunade-sama if she wants to grant them freedom and leniency."

The hokage nodded. "Which I will – under the conditions that they remain allies. No more war, no more attacks."

"Then…" Ino whispered hopefully.

"It's all over," Shikamaru chuckled contentedly.

Ino once again threw her arms around Shikamaru and looked up at him mischeviously.

"After this, I expect to be remarried, Nara Shikamaru. After living with the likes of pretend-Hyacia Ganseki, I feel tainted. Let's have a second marriage! And I want a big party, a big cathedral, and a new ring."

Shikamaru groaned. "As troublesome as ever."

-

Sakura and Ino's other bridesmaids sobbed heartfelt-edly (for the second time at a second wedding).

"Do you take this man as your lawfully wedded husband?" Tsunade asked solemnly. _For the second darn-official time, _she thought.

Ino was silent, contemplating.

"Ino…?" Shikamaru whispered worriedly under his breath.

In a moment, she leaped on him and wrapped her arms around his shoulders, ignoring the flaring white and pale-gold wedding gown and the flimsy veil.

"HELL YEAH!" she screamed, while the wedding bells tolled.

It was one wedding Konoha would never live down.

-

In the end, Shikamaru and Ino lived a pre-destined life of love together in blissfully intertwined hands. They both died a shinobi's death together side-by-side at the age of forty-eight, quite a young age. But it was an honorable and brilliant life and a legacy to leave behind…that went through their children.

A brown haired, blue-eyed daughter first, with all pride by Ino's truly but the intellect worthy of the father. Nara Hanazaki (vivid/fluorescent blossom) was a beauty with a cerebral mind, a shinobi tactician like her father and a Shintenshin user like her mother. She achieved the Shintenshin Mastery during a battle at age eighteen, a year after her mother's mastery age.

A honey-haired, hazel-eyed son came after, overflowing with the essence of Shikamaru's natural laziness but a sharp talent at the Kagemane no Jutsu. Although not as bright as his older sister, he was a strong warrior and a valuable asset to the Konoha ranks. Eventually, Nara Asuma, named after Shikamaru and Ino's Team Sensei, became famous for the ability to manipulate the Kagemane and attack his enemies without damage to himself.

Of course, Ino and Shikamaru's life was riddled with misfortunes and despair that came along with the shinobi life…but they greeted death with content on their faces and knowing – they died together and so ever deeply in love.

Together, they were a pair of Konoha to remember.

---OWARI---


End file.
